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Here Thar Be Monsters!

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16.5.17

We Control The Horizontal And The Vertical

I'm going to tell you something, and I'm going to try and be delicate. I don't want to bruise delicate psyches or shock anyone unduly.

But first, think about this...in fact, check yourself regularly as you go about your business every day. When you walk into a room with a TeeVee, do you automatically look at it? When you are talking with someone and there is a TeeVee in the room, do you find your eyes wandering over to the screen...usually when the transition graphics are running?

I want you to think about this long and hard, and concentrate on it for at least a week. The reason is that you are mind controlled.

I told you it wasn't going to be easy. No one wants to admit they are mind controlled. Perhaps a kinder, gentler term would help...hypnotized. Maybe that will help you feel like you can snap out of it if you really try. And try you must. Now that I have implanted the thought in your mind, you will at least think about it on occasion, perhaps catch yourself being drawn to the TeeVee.

Not to discourage you, but it took me many years to snap out of it. Many of those years were spent studying and creating media content that helped hypnotize people. I was pretty good at it. I got paid well and won awards for it. Even though I was trained and conscious of what was happening, I was still a victim, because the power of the medium is almost overwhelming.

TeeVee, and movies too, rely on a physiological phenomenon that has been burned into our brains over millennia of development as a species. Our eyes/brain automatically react to movement and flashing light. It's an automatic response. Things that move and flash might be food, or water, or perhaps a predator. Whatever the reason for it, it is very hard to control

TeeVee specifically uses lots of colorful rotating graphics and loud, splashy music that usually begin with a strong beat to make us look. Once our gaze is locked by spinning logos and swooshing meaningless elements and blaring music, we are primed to have suggestions pumped into our minds.

Notice that the swooshing stuff is immediately followed by a single strong statement, called a "lead". The lead has been chosen as the message of the moment that will kick off every segment and fill the lower-third title crawl. Whenever you get bored by the pictures, your eyes are automatically drawn to the words incessantly scrolling across the screen, when the message is pounded into your brain over and over again.

Suppose you and I meet at our favorite cafe (where a TeeVee or two are streaming messages at us) and I say, "Trump."

Two years ago, you would probably think of Bridge, Hearts or Spades, or at least the expression "trump card." Now, your head is full of images of a fat, grey-haired loudmouth, and your mind is full of one of two narratives, depending on whether you watch "left" or "right" media.

The fact that there are only two narratives to choose from, left or right, and not three, ten or a hundred, is that the information you are fed is pre-arranged in diametrically opposed packages.

Depending on which one your are conditioned to subscribe to, your reaction to "Trump" will be pleasurable or painful. Both of us are probably unable to create a third narrative, since we have not thought that way and don't have the vocabulary ready to express it. If we stick to the two controlled narratives, we most likely have an hour or more of conversation ahead parroting all the messages we have heard.

I do not watch TeeVee, nor listen to the radio. Haven't for more than a decade. I subscribe to a very narrow selection of YouTube channels that I believe are free thinkers, or just purely mind candy for times when I want to relax. For that reason, I am forced to formulate my own narratives, which regular readers here know do not conform to most "mainstream" ideologies.

I also read a lot. And write a lot. I teach English and have been paid to write on many occasions, sometimes winning awards for it. The books I read generally went out of print a century ago or more, though my collection of over 3,000 books (last time I bothered to count) spans the last 3,000 years.

I only listen to recorded music and use an ad blocker on all my browsers. I avoid every possible contact with advertising. When I accidentally see one, it usually makes me laugh because they are so wildly manipulative, appealing to our basest emotions and desires. In fact, I spend a lot of time on my Twitter feed ridiculing and satirizing the media, because it is an effective way to break the spell.

The reason I mention all this is to demonstrate the amount of effort necessary to break the habit and get out of the conditioning. The mind is like a muscle - it must be exercised regularly or it will atrophy. Trust me, TeeVee and the other media depend on us being lazy and unwilling to exercise our minds.

Here's another little experiment. Next time you get together with friends and actually talk (as opposed to using devices or absorbing media), be aware of what is being discussed. Chances are, nearly all of the conversation will revolve around the media - what someone saw, heard or read. Very little will have to do with personal experiences and anecdotes.

If you feel particularly daring, go prepared with a story or topic that is far from the beaten path (say medieval architecture or unusual political view) and notice how everyone reacts. I will bet dimes to donuts the conversation shuts down for a few seconds before going back to the media.

Finally, and I know this doesn't apply to readers here because they would be basket cases before finishing one column, if a loved one is "triggered" by certain topics, words or ideas, then they are most certainly mind-controlled.

"Triggering" is a concept from the Bernays school of public relations and propaganda. It was developed out of Freudian and Jungian hierarchies and archetypes. The triggers are basically weaponized fears and desires that are used to control our behavior.

There are fears of being excluded from the group, or desires to lead the group. They are herd instincts that have been deeply researched and particular sounds and pictures have been associated with them. They can be triggered without us knowing it, and our responses have been programmed into us so that we react in predictable and controllable ways.

One example that is very powerful is "for the children". We will do anything, buy any product, try any technique, and rally the troops "for the children". This is one of our most basic instincts and it is one of the most weaponized.

Any number of crimes have been perpetrated by nothing more than saying "for the children". Just look at vaccines. Politicians, social workers and advertisers use "for the children" all the time. "Amber Alerts" and "No Child Left Behind" are all examples of "for the children". Child 'protective' Services justifies all the horrors they wreak in the name of "for the children". You can completely shut down someone's defensive reactions by sayiing, "It's for the children."

Yes, sadly, we are all mind controlled. The media is so pervasive now that we can hardly extract ourselves from it. We feel embarrassed if we can't discuss last night's game or the lastest episode of Game of Thrones or Orange Is The New Black.

Have you ever felt ashamed or left out because you don't watch or missed an episode of the current craze? You are mind-controlled. Are you angry that Tim Allen's Last Man Standing got cancelled? You are controlled by the "right" narrative. Are you ecstatic that it got cancelled? You are controlled by the "left" narrative.

The proper response from a clear-thinking mind is, "Who gives a shit?"

As an aside, I usually return FOLLOWS on Twitter as a courtesy. I often get very nice messages thanking me for the follow, though I admit I am sadly lacking in that department. The other day I got a response that read, "Hi! Thanks for following us. How do you use social media? For Business or Pleasure?"

I responded, "I use social media to ridicule and satirize the enemies of Truth, though just as often I point out the absurdities of using social media."

I have yet to get a reply. They may even have UNFOLLOWed me. Que sera!

You can follow the fun @RadioFarSide. I'll most likely FOLLOW you back, if you stick around long enough.